Gua Sha is a natural alternative therapy that comes from ancient Chinese medicine. It involves moving a massage stone across the skin in a certain direction, this technique is called scraping. This increase blood circulation in the soft tissue, helping to reduce inflammation and ease pain. You will notice redness as you scrape the stone across the skin, this is because you are increasing the blood flow to that area. Redness is a good sign so don't be alarmed it will go down quickly, it shouldn't be painful. There are lots of different shaped tools and types of Gua Sha out there, but for the face this is the one you want to go for.

Gua Sha comes in jade or rose, either works well however, the rose can be more breakable if you want to apply pressure.

I started using Gua Sha fairly recently and I have found it to be so beneficial. Especially as I get tension headaches, the muscles in my face are particularly painful. If you work at a computer a lot and stare at a screen, you will have a lot of tension that you may not be aware of. After completing a Gua Sha routine, I often feel relaxed but also energised, like my mind is clearer and lighter. I would so recommend adding Gua Sha to your self-care routine.

In my opinion this is more of a health and wellness product rather than a beauty product. Using this natural method to achieve aesthetic changes in your skin requires continual use, time and patience. If you're looking for a quick beauty fix this might not realistically be what you're looking for. The main benefit that I have experienced is relaxation and muscle tension relief. I didn't realise how much tension I was carrying in my face especially around my jaw. Our faces are made up of loads of muscles which are in constant use.

Another great benefit is that it helps to stimulate the lymphatic system which is your secondary circulatory system, it collects waste and disposes of it. This is a voluntary system unlike the heart which constantly pumps blood around the body, it is involuntary. The lymph fluid moves around the body collecting waste, it relies on movement to help it travel around the whole body. Anything that boosts our circulation will also boost the lymphatic system. If you notice that you have puffiness in your face around your eyes, cheeks and sinuses this may indicate that fluid has collected there. Gua Sha is really good for clearing the fluid helping to stimulate lymphatic system, this will reduce the puffiness.

Gua Sha works best if you remove all make up and use a facial oil that is slow to absorb into the skin. You can buy special Gua Sha oil or natural grapeseed oil which is brilliant as it doesn't soak into the skin too fast, you will need a fair amount of slip to use the stone. You can start off with light strokes then build up the pressure, some areas of the face are sensitive so do take care and start gentle. Below is a picture of a simple sequence for the face, using the appropriate side of the stone sweeping the stone across the area always towards the edge of the face. For example if you're doing the cheek start at the nose and scrape in one direction towards the ear, repeat this up to ten times. Make sure you don't scrape back and forth always in one direction as you want to encourage lymphatic drainage.

If you have any question please get in touch. Let me know how you find using Gua Sha.

Thanks for reading,

Ally